Detour Pit Stop #54: The Oyster Shed, Isle of Skye, Scotland
Photo Nik Berg
It’s a sketchy sheep-dodging drive down an extremely narrow track, but it’s well worth it to reach The Oyster Shed in Carbost on the Isle of Skye.
There’s a constant stream of vehicles performing close-shave parking manoeuvres in the tight car park and a queue out the door of the shed itself. Everywhere people are cracking into crab claws, langoustines, lobster tails, and slurping down freshly-shucked oysters in this amazing hidden-away eatery.
Founded by oyster fisherman Paul McGlynn, first as a pop-up and now a permanent fixture, The Oyster Shed is not glamorous, but it is seriously good. We tuck into pan fried scallops, lobster, crab and the eponymous oysters accompanied by a mountain of chips, using our Caterham as a makeshift table, savouring the flavours and the view across to Loch Harport.
As well as the most delicious seafood the shed also sells a wide selection of locally produced deli goods and if we’d had room (and refrigeration) we’d definitely have stocked up.
Fully-sated we carry on our journey, but many people quite understandably only make it as far as the bottom of the hill where the Talisker distillery offers tours and samples.